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Cowboys news: Newly-signed Xavier Rhodes ready to make an impact

The latest news on the Dallas Cowboys.

NFL: Dallas Cowboys at Minnesota Vikings Brace Hemmelgarn-USA TODAY Sports

Rhodes Ready to Contribute for Cowboys in Playoffs - DallasCowboys.com, Patrik Walker

It’ll be a quick turn around from signing to game time, but Xavier Rhodes is ready for all the smoke.

If it’s up to him, Xavier Rhodes will be in uniform and on the field to try and help the Dallas Cowboys in their visit to Raymond James Stadium on NFL Super Wild Card Weekend to take on Tom Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

The decision is up to the coaching staff, however, but Rhodes is physically ready and in great spirits just envisioning another shot at playoff football.

“That’s something you have to ask the coaches, but what I can tell you is how I feel out there,” said the three-time Pro Bowl cornerback following practice on Thursday. “I feel great. I feel like I’m getting the hang of things on defense, with the playbook and everything, so we’ll see sometime today or tomorrow.”

‘Not Trippin’!’ Cowboys’ Trevon Diggs Predicts ‘Winner’ Dak Prescott in Playoffs at Bucs - SI.com, Mike Fisher

Confidence isn’t lacking from Dak Prescott’s teammates.

Dak Prescott is in a funk.

So why do his Dallas Cowboys teammates nevertheless trust him to lead them deep into these NFL playoffs?

Because, to them, Dak is Dak.

“I know what Dak’s going to do,” Cowboys cornerback Trevon Diggs said via The 33rd Team. ”I know he’s a winner. ... I know he’s going to come back with a stronger game, so I’m never sweating. I’m never trippin’.’’

Gen Z? More like Gen L. These Dallas Cowboys fans only know pain, legends of Super Bowls - The Dallas Morning News, Evan Grant

Older Cowboys fans may not know, but there are lot of youngins’ clinging to thirty-year old hope.

“The texts start as soon as they lose: ‘We all know why they didn’t win. It hasn’t happened since February of ‘96. And we know what happened then’.”

Ah, yes, older siblings. What are they for, if not to mercilessly trash the younger ones?

But who could blame a generation of young adult Cowboys fans for developing a complex? All their lives, their parents have told tales of successful Hail Mary passes, triumphant Triplets and a notion the Cowboys were America’s Team. All they hear now is ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith cackling every time the Cowboys lose. They are a group facing down 30, starting to marry and have their own kids. They’ve grown up in a world where the Cowboys and the Detroit Lions are basically equals. Gen Z? Call them Gen L.

Elliott has revamped role in 4th playoff trip with Cowboys - The Observer, Schuyler Dixon

First time Dallas will enter the playoffs not looking to Ezekiel Elliott to carry the team in quite a few years.

Ezekiel Elliott enters his fourth trip to the playoffs with the Dallas Cowboys in a position unlike any of the previous three. The two-time NFL rushing champion is no longer the top playmaker in the Dallas backfield, and not even the leading rusher.

Tony Pollard carries those distinctions now. Teammates and coaches grade Elliott’s value on a different scale, most notably the quarterback who has been with him since their remarkable rookie seasons together.

“He’s a huge part of the temperature of that locker room,” said Dak Prescott, who was the 2016 NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year in a toss-up vote with his teammate. Elliott’s just not running quite as hot as he was six years ago.

Cowboys Defense ‘Doesn’t Matter!’ Bucs WR Mike Evans’ Bold Playoff Prediction - SI.com, Daniel Flick

We’ll see.

Perhaps the biggest challenge for the Cowboys will be slowing the Buccaneers’ star receivers, headlined by Mike Evans, a four-time Pro Bowler who had 10 receptions for 207 yards in his last outing just under two weeks ago.

And even though rookie corner DaRon Bland has impressed in spurts, Evans smells blood in the water with the Cowboys’ defensive backs.

“I mean they’re down at corner; they got two guys injured,” Evans said. “They were solid players. The backup is solid, been watching more film on him. No. 26, he’s made some plays, but ...

“When we’re healthy, it doesn’t matter who the DBs are.”

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